Pandora's Box 2
by Liv Wilder
Summary: Spoiler Alert for Ep4x15 "Pandora" - This is the argument that might take place in the trunk of a car when Castle tells Kate that Sofia Conrad will rescue them.  Inspired by the CTV promo trailer.


**Spoiler Alert: This one-shot came to me after watching the Canadian promo for 4x15, "Pandora". **

**It's the scene where Kate and Castle appear to be locked inside the trunk of a car, and I'm guessing that Castle has just told Kate that Sofia will get them out.**

**This is how I've imagined the conversation might go…again, only if I were in charge.**

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><p>The men had come out of nowhere, catching them by surprise. Rough hands pulled black, cloth hoods over their heads, completely disorientating them, and then they were bundled into the back of a car. The trunk, in fact, with its' small, claustrophobic space, rough carpeting, stale air, and zero means of escape.<p>

They pulled off their hoods and blinked in the darkness, hands reaching out blindly, like moles, feeling around for a light switch or a catch - any way to escape. Fingers brushed against limbs and faces, touching soft tissue and firm muscles, as they tried to acquaint themselves with their latest prison. But the phosphorescent handle of the emergency trunk release had been removed, trapping them there indefinitely.

The universe seemed to be telling them something; chaining them together in basements, throwing them into the trunks of cars, forcing them together at every opportunity. But it seemed they weren't getting the message, or they weren't ready to listen.

The car lurched forward, throwing them against one another. Hands reached out once more to control the pitching motion, finding a safe place against soft, intimate body contours that they would never permit themselves to touch in broad daylight. Frustration, borne of embarrassment and mild arousal, grew to a fever pitch, spilling over with Castle's apparently innocent statement that his friend Sofia, the beautiful CIA agent, would find them, and get them out of this mess.

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><p>"I am <em>not<em> gonna be rescued by your _girlfriend,_" declared Kate indignantly.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" asked Castle, tightly packed against her in the dark, feeling cranky and car sick from all the jostling and the stop-starts.

"What do you _think_ it means?" she muttered, sarcastically.

"This isn't like you, Kate. This petty jealousy," he replied, slightly bemused, but still trying to be reasonable.

"_Petty jealousy_? Castle where do you get off criticizing _me_? You don't know the first thing _about_ me," she spat, knowing that this was a lie, but spoiling for a fight anyway, because she didn't like this Sofia one bit, and she really _was_ jealous, though she'd never admit that to Castle or anyone else.

"Eh, I think you'll find that isn't true, Kate. Not anymore," he said, a little smugly, irritating her further with his calm and reasonable tone.

"Right. Right," she said, her voice loaded with sarcasm. "So you follow me around…"

"For four years," interjected Castle.

"Yeah, and what is _that_ all about? Four years of stalking – jeez, you should be doing time for that," she muttered. "So, after four years of hovering you think you know me? Is that it? she challenged. "And just how long did you follow the lovely Sofia?"

"You really _are_ jealous of her," he grinned, needling her even more.

"Am not," she snapped.

"Are too," he threw back childishly.

"Shut up," hissed Kate.

"No, not until you tell me why this bothers you so much."

Silence descended on their small prison, broken only by the hum of tires on concrete.

"You made me give up Alex Conrad," said Kate, after a long pause. "You turned me into a _one-writer girl,_ and now I find out that you were…" she blurted, skidding to a halt when she found herself at a loss for words, having revealed way too much already.

"_What_? _Cheating _on you? Is _that_ what you think? Because I knew Sofia _long_ before I ever met you, Kate. _Years_ before, in fact. And just for the record, I did _not_ make you give up Alex Conrad. You are _free_ to see whomever you like, whenever you like."

"Fine!" she snapped.

"Fine!" he parroted, trying to turn his back on her, despite there being no place to go.

"Good! I'm glad we cleared that up," she lied, her heart sinking, because really, she only wanted him, and here he was lying pressed up against her in the dark, and she couldn't even admit it.

"Me too," he added, sounding entirely unconvincing.

"But don't _ever_ presume to know me, Richard Castle," she warned, hurt flaring up again as she fought to have the last word.

"Kate, there are scientists who have been studying life forms for decades, and they _still_ know less about those creatures than I know about you," he said, a little wearily.

"Fascinating," replied Kate, tartly. "Maybe I'm just a quick study - too shallow to warrant further examination. You ever think about that?" she spat back.

"Kate, why are we fighting about this?" he asked, sounding exhausted, desperate to end this pointless argument that wasn't of his making. "In fact, why are we fighting _at all_?" he asked, as the car turned a corner and they rolled together against the hard wall of the sedan's trunk.

Kate cursed as her head hit the car's first aid box with a hollow thump. Castle reached out instinctively and pulled her towards him to cushion any future blow, wrapping his arms around her torso to protect her.

Finally, Kate let out an exhausted sigh, giving in to him. She relaxed against his body. His warm hands on her arms, his muscular thighs spooning hers; a comfort she no longer had the desire to resist.

"I don't know why we're fighting," she admitted, sounding defeated and contrite, her voice losing it shrill quality, all the sharp edges gone. "It's stupid. _I'm_ stupid."

"You're not stupid. You're…_infuriating_," he said with a smile.

"Mmm hmm? That all?" she asked, inviting him to start something.

"And you're exhausting…" he added, warming to his subject.

"And stubborn and extraordinary and brilliant and compassionate and beautiful and elegant and sexy and hot and…" he trailed off, seemingly out of adjectives.

"What, _that's it_? That's all you've got, writer man?" she teased, blushing at the long list of compliments, the flare of anger burnt out, her fingers tangling with his.

"And I'm in love with you," he said with a sigh, piercing the silence, risking everything. "So don't _ever_ say that I don't know you, Kate. Because that was never true. I know you in here," he whispered against her hair, drawing her hand to his chest and placing it over his heart, just as the trunk of the car flew open and they found themselves staring into the surprised face of CIA Agent, Sofia Conrad.

_FIN_


End file.
